More Articles

A 17-year-old girl admitted yesterday that she assaulted a Franklin County Children Services
worker and stole her car last summer, ending a trial that began one day earlier with the victim
weeping on the witness stand.

Chiann Morrow will be sentenced on Jan. 7 by Juvenile Court Magistrate Woodrow Hudson, who could
place her on probation or send her to the Department of Youth Services for as little as six months
or until she turns 21.

The victim, 58-year-old Corinne Metcalfe, fell from the moving vehicle during the assault, which
occurred about 10:40 p.m. on June 10 on W. Mound Street near the I-70 exit ramp.

Dominique Vaughn, an 18-year-old man who witnessed the incident, tried to stop Morrow from
leaving in the 2003 Toyota Corolla.

He hung onto the open driver’s-side door as the car sped away before he fell to the
pavement.

Both victims were taken to Mount Carmel West hospital, where Metcalfe was treated for bruises
and a headache and Vaughn for deep abrasions on both arms. Metcalfe missed two months of work.

Morrow, who was 16 at the time, was captured by Columbus police in the stolen car on the morning
of June 12 and gave officers a false name and age, Assistant Prosecutor Christine Julian said.

She said Morrow didn’t want to go to a placement at Pomegranate Health Systems, where Metcalfe
was driving her when the attack occurred.

Metcalfe testified that she had driven from west I-70 down the ramp to W. Mound Street and was
stopped at a red light when Morrow climbed from the back seat to the front. She said Morrow told
her, “I’m leaving,” before assaulting her and grabbing for her purse.

Metcalfe said she hung onto the purse, put the car in park and thought she had pulled the key
from the ignition before opening the door. But, she said, Morrow started the car and began driving
away, with Metcalfe hanging out the door.

Metcalfe paused in her testimony and wept as she described “hanging onto the steering wheel for
dear life.”

After Metcalfe fell to the road, striking her head and back, she said Morrow stopped the car and
threatened to run over her.

Vaughn, who was behind them in another car, testified that he got out to intervene because “you
shouldn’t treat older people like that.”

Defense attorney Roger Warner said he was prepared to dispute some of the allegations against
his client, but decided, in the end, “we’d still be in the same boat.”

Morrow, who remains in the custody of Children Services, admitted to delinquency counts of
assault, vehicular assault, robbery, grand theft auto and falsification.

She told the magistrate that she’s “working very hard (in her current placement). I wanted to
let you know how much I thank you for giving me the opportunity to do better and to make a
difference.”